Albania-China cooperation has great potential: Albanian president

TIRANA - Albania-China cooperation has great potential, Albanian President Ilir Meta said here Friday, voicing hope that the two countries will continue to support each other and expand pragmatic cooperation in various fields.

The Albanian leader made the remarks during a meeting with visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

With a long history of friendship between Albania and China, the two peoples share good feelings towards each other, said the president.

Albania is proud of its support for China's restoration of its lawful seat in the United Nations (UN) and will never forget China's assistance to Albania's economic development and modernization drive, he said.

China has achieved great progress, while at the same time it has always been upholding the principle of equality of all countries regardless of their size in international relations, which has won wide support and respect, he said.

Meta expressed hope that Albania and China will enhance communication and coordination on multilateral affairs, and support and encourage their young people to promote mutual understanding so as to continuously inject new impetus into the development of bilateral relations.

For his part, Wang recalled that half a century ago, with the support of the international community including Albania, China successfully restored its lawful seat in the United Nations, which was a victory for justice, for the people of all countries, and for the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

China-Albania friendship is a shared memory and both countries believe in upholding justice and hope to deepen cooperation, Wang said.

China stands ready to work with Albania to forge high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, promote people-to-people, education and youth exchanges, and carry forward their traditional friendship so as to scale new heights in bilateral relations, he said.

The two sides also agreed to tap cooperation potential in areas such as economy and trade, investment and tourism. Wang said China is willing to import more high-quality products from Albania and encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Albania.